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If you are getting frustrated watching your site stagnate in the Google rankings, then you will want to make sure you follow these tips. You need to make sure you research properly and the proper plugins installed. You also have to make sure your page is setup properly and you are creating content. Lastly you need to build backlinks to your content. Once you have read about these steps below, you will be able to skyrocket your site to the top of Google.

WordPress SEO Checklist

1. Research – You have to research your keywords. A lot of people, and I mean a lot, are going to tell you to look for low competition long tail keywords. I disagree. I say you go for the big guys first. Do your research of course though. If you want to rank for a spanish course then “Learn Spanish” is a great place to start. Using programs like Google’s free keyword tool you can find out an estimate of how many people search for a term. The higher the better. Do a Google search yourself and see if people are buying Paid Google ads – if so that means there is money to be made. Don’t be scared of very competitive terms either – that is where the money is.

2. Plugins – Make sure you install all applicable SEO related plugins. At the very least you should be installing All-IN-One Seo and XML Google Sitemaps. The first plugin will help with on page optimization, while the latter one will build a XML sitemap and submit it to Google. Do some research and see if any other SEO related plugins could fit on your site.

3. On Page Optimization – Although not as important as it once was you should still make sure your website is optimized. You want all your title tags to be keyword rich. That is the first thing Google sees. You also want to make sure you have no broken links on your site. The keyword appearing in your body as well as in H1 tags will also help. I would also make sure my permalinks were keyword rich. To do this set your custom permalink structure to something like /%postname%/. That way whatever you title your posts will become part of your URL.

4. Constant Content – Start adding content and don’t stop ever. Google loves fresh content and so do your visitors. Try to post everyday, if not really aim for five times a week. If you need to get guest bloggers to help you do that, but make sure you have a steady flow of content.

5. Build Links – Build links, everyone knows Google loves backlinks. Get them wherever you can. Online directories, blog comments, forum signatures, forum profiles, social bookmarking and social media all have opportunities to place backlinks. You can research proper backlinking and find tons of great ideas.

These five steps are very simple, but they are the key to getting your WordPress blog to the top of Google. If you research, plugin, optimize, create and build, you will blast to the top of Google.

This is a quick, 11-step WordPress set up guide. This article won’t teach you how to completely create your site but it is a good reminder of the simple starting steps everyone should take when they begin their WordPress journey.

Fast And Easy Guide To Setting Up WordPress

1. Install WordPress: This is pretty self explanatory. The first step should be to install WordPress on your host. WordPress has a great guide to follow so this shouldn’t hold you up. Some webhosts even have something called Fantastico, if your hosts does you are in luck! Fantastico will install WordPress automatically for you.

2. Login to your new site: Again self explanatory. The way I usually access my WordPress site is by adding a /wp-admin after my domain name in my web browsers address bar.

3. Make sure your email addresses are set: This is important because this is where you will get your updates and password if you ever lose it. There are two places to make sure your password is set. The first spot is in Settings->General. The other spot is in your Users menu – you will want to ensure your Admin email is correct.

4. Change your permalinks: I suggest this to all clients. In your Settings menu there is a Permalinks section. Open that menu and then choose your new style of permalinks. For the ultimate in clean URLs I suggest choosing custom structure and inserting the following string: /%postname%/. This will make the title of your posts be the web address.

5. Add your title and tagline: In General Settings once again add the name and tag line of your blog. The name is anything you want – keyword rich is best. The tagline is your site’s description.

6. Choose your theme: If you want to use a theme (you do) you can find a wide variety to choose by using your WordPress back office itself. Just navigate to Appearance->Themes and then use the tools they have to search for a theme. Once you find one to your liking download and activate it.

7. Install your plugins: Any plugins that you wish to add, do so now. Plugins are very flexible so you can add more later on if you discover one you need. Install whatever plugins you think you need. I would suggest that you definitely include All-in-One SEO and XML Google Sitemaps. They will both help with your SEO and each has fantastic support if you need to know more. I would also suggest Askimet but it comes installed already.

8. Activate Akismet: I think this should be done as soon as possible. Askimet is a great spam blocking plugin that ensures your site isn’t full of spam comments. As soon as you start adding content you will notice the spam beginning. Askimet has a huge database of comment spam so it can usually pick up and block any on your site. If it does make a mistake then you can manually override it for a particular comment and it will actually learn from that. The one caveat to this is you have to get a WordPress API key. To get that API key you have to sign up for a free account on wordpress.com. Not a big deal, but an extra step you might not be aware of.

9. Check your privacy: In your Settings menu there is a Privacy heading. Click it and make sure your blog is visible to everyone. If it isn’t, Google will not index any of your content!

10. Add your widgets: Under Appearance there will be a Widgets menu. You can use this to add functionality to your WordPress site using the sidebars. If you chose a widget ready theme (most are) you will have one or two sidebars (or more) on your site. In the widgets menu the sidebar will show up and you can drag and drop “widgets” into it. These widgets can be things like a search bar, an archive, a calendar, a recent posts list or a text/html box that you can put just about anything in. There are even more widgets than that available. There are even downloadable ones if the standard ones don’t do everything you need.

11. Create content: Now you can create some content! You can add pictures, galleries of those pictures, an about page etc… You can also start making posts – remember to create categories to keep them organized. Take advantage of the tag feature as that will come in handy when you have hundereds of posts. It helps with searches on your site as well.

That is the bare minimum to get started with WordPress. You will have to learn a lot more but when you do, you will be happy you made the move to WordPress. Happy blogging!

Yes you read the title right – if you have been blogging with no results, then it is time to turn to the dark side. No more Mr. Nice Guy blogging for you. You have tried your best at being honest – now it is time to embrace the darkness. You need traffic? Then you need to lie, cheat and steal your way to blogging supremacy. Let me guide you down this dire path. If your pure and innocent mind is telling you to stop reading, you might want to continue just to see what I mean.

1. Lie! It is time to forget the ten commandments, lying can help you devise some catchy blog posts that will get talked about. I have to admit that my idea of lying might not be as evil as you were expecting. I am actually talking about satire. You can use satire to craft funny posts that people may feel more inclined to spread. This might be hard to explain so I will give you an example. I pretended to get a sneak peak at some upcoming software. I picked a software release that won’t be happening for years and I gave ten “secret” facts about it. Of course I was “lying”, I just made up new comedic features that were so over the top no one could take it seriously. It ended up getting some twitter love and was one of my more successful posts. The creator of the software even retweeted it and thanked me for giving him a good laugh.

2. Cheat! We covered lies, so now lets move on to cheating. What evil ideas will I come up with here? Well once again, it is a little ,vanilla. I think for us bloggers consistency is key. If you release posts everyday you will get Google love and more traffic. Sometime this is impossible though. I have had days so busy I can’t possibly get a blog post out. That said, my RSS subscribers still got a notification in their email about a new post…because I cheated!

WordPress and most other blog platforms allow you to schedule posts. When you are “feeling it” and ready to crank out content — crank out as much as possible and then like the infomercial says: “set it and forget it!”. You can even keep a couple blog posts in a text file so you just have to copy and paste on your busy days.

3. Steal! Alright this is clear cut, I obviously meant you should go to someone else’s blog and steal their content. This is simple! It is also plagiarism and I’m joking, I do not support that.

What you can steal are ideas! Browse your favorite blogs and get inspiration from them. You can easily and honestly get a topic or general themes from them. You can also go one step further and use a part of their post in your post. You can review their blog, you could review a video they made or you can take a single quote from their blog post (with attribution of course) and discuss your feelings about it. Stealing is usually frowned upon but I think in this case blog owners will be happy to receive exposure from your site.

We grew up learning not to lie, cheat or steal. I think the majority of people would agree they are wrong but even the most prudent person would agree my methods are pretty tame. If you are in a rut then don’t forget; you can lie, cheat and steal your way to creating constant content! This should give your blog a much needed boost, and hey sometimes it feels good to be bad.

Stop Playing Nice And Lie Cheat And Steal Your Way TO Blogging Riches.

When you are constantly creating content for your blog it can become a tiresome and mundane task. You have to think of topics everyday and it can get a bit overwhelming at times. Even when you are talking about your passions, the constant need for content can get a bit boring. What about having some fun? Have you ever thought of injecting some controversy into your blog?

The power of controversy can lead to spikes in your traffic. People feel a need to respond to things that aggravate them. Even better than that, these people who respond will want to share your blog post to people who will be equally outraged or also feel the need to respond.

Creating Controversy May Be Beneficial For Your Blog

How do you inject controversy into your blog though? First I would suggest not going overboard, outright racist, sexist or homophobic blog posts are indeed controversial, but they can also hurt your personal brand. There are other polarizing issues that can inject curiosity at less of a cost. Politics, religion and sports all fall into this category. You can’t play the fence though you have to take one side of the above issues and go for it.

Basically anything people feel strongly about you can exploit. On my blog my most successful post in terms of views and comments was an album review I did. I took the opposite stance of most other online reviews and it paid off. People were expressing their outrage in droves. My website views went up big time. In fact I noticed a 234% increase in my 30 day totals.

Another bonus of using controversy is that you will find people that agree with you. Regularly, these people might read your blog post and just keep it moving. Now that they see all these comments attacking you – they may feel the need to stick up for their viewpoint, which happens to be yours.

Controversy isn’t a guaranteed traffic spike, but if you are able to promote your controversial blog posts to the right audience, you are sure to get some interaction. This interaction won’t always be positive, but it could lead to viral opportunities. I suggest starting out by sharing some of your own controversial beliefs. Just be yourself, you surely have some opinions that go against the norm. That way you can passionately defend them. If you notice your traffic is at a plateau, break out some controversy and see what it can do for you.

Do you have a blog? Are you looking for new content? Are you having a hard time posting everyday? If you answered yes to any of those questions then this article will show you one method that will ensure you have consistent content. There is no doubt about it, interviewing people is one of the easiest and smartest ways to generate content for you blog. These four points are sure to convince you.

Interviews: An Alternative Way To Get Fresh Content

1. It Is Easy: You don’t have to worry about writing a funny or thoughtful post. You just have to interview someone, and listen to their story. It couldn’t be simpler. All you have to think about are your questions. Once you have a set of questions you can use that as a template for every other interview.

It is also pretty easy to book people. You can start with bloggers who are in your niche, they are usually open to doing an interviews, especially for a backlink. You can even contact independent musicians and artists for interviews. They can be very interesting and are usually looking for outlets to market themselves. You can also interview local businesses in your neighbourhood. They want exposure and this is a great way to network with people.

Once you have your interview you just post it – simple.

2. Many Different Styles: You can choose a couple different ways to display your interviews. For long distance interviews you can post text or audio versions. You can also do video interviews in person. Or webcam interviews over a free platform like Skype. This is great because it adds variety to your blog.

3. Networking: This is a big bonus. Every person you meet with and interview has the potential to become part of your network. So at the same time you are creating content for your blog, you are also creating a website visitor and possibly a potential lead.

When you connect with someone in this fashion they are put at ease. There is no sell or anything, you simply want to interview them for your blog. Now next time you call them you have a great opening “Hey, this is Ted, I interviewed you for my blog last month…”

4. Word of Mouth: One of the most effective ways to market yourself is through word of mouth. every person you interview is going to check out your blog. More importantly they are going to tell their friends to check out their interview. They might even tweet it or Facebook it to thousands of their social contacts. Then every one of those people might tell their friends…you get the idea. Interviewing people is a great way to get people talking.

This is only one content creation idea but look how many benefits you get. Now that you have read this article you will be able to consistently create content by using interviews on your blog. The benefits are clear, it is up to you to act!